


Successful Strategies

by AbbyRosette



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adult!Armin, F/M, Post-crystal AU, and kisses, copious sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-02
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2018-01-07 03:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1115138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbbyRosette/pseuds/AbbyRosette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His eyes had once been illuminated with a kind of hope that had been extinguished within her heart ages ago. She’d watched as that hope flickered in the storm she’d wrought. </p><p>                 She never imagined she’d awaken to see it snuffed out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Successful Strategies

**Author's Note:**

> Oops this got very dark. (Originally posted on my writing blog here: http://kapiin.tumblr.com/post/67740523276/i-want-the-k-aruani)

The escape had been swift. She was released from her crystal slumber and thrown into a world that had become even more disjointed in her absence. The chains that bound her wrists could only hold her for so long. They were a band-aid on a problem that would haunt the soldiers of the 104th Training Squad for so long. 

When she slipped free from her human-devised prison, her target was clear. 

His eyes had once been illuminated with a kind of hope that had been extinguished within her heart ages ago. She’d watched as that hope flickered in the storm she’d wrought. 

She never imagined she’d awaken to see it snuffed out. 

His eyes were not the calming blue she remembered. They seared her, cut through her with surgical precision only to piece her back together again. He was her researcher and interrogator. In this war, he was her greatest threat. In the quiet whispers of an impossible imagined future, he was her greatest love. 

Sometimes he thought of her in the same way. It was a terrifying game that they played with each other. They took turns purging the light from each other’s eyes and replacing it again with brilliant lies. Twisted half-truths left lips quirked with whole smiles. Affection was dodged and withheld. Hatred was hinted at and denied. They spoke volumes in silences and nothing at all in carefully-rehearsed speeches. It was a circle that they chased each other in. 

But now she sought to end it. 

The azure weight of his gaze didn’t even shock her this time around. He’d looked at her with those eyes many times before. She knew how this would unfold. This time she would do this right. This time…she would eliminate the correct enemy. 

"Annie…" It was low and controlled, not so much a question as a way to convince himself that this was indeed happening. The cell guard lay on the cobblestone at her feet, his neck bent at an unnatural angle. He watched as she approached with each movement svelte and purposeful, like a slow-burning tango. The graceful fingers he’d once fantasized about tangling with his own wrapped around the handle of a stolen military-issue bowie knife. 

He knew what would come next. 

"Armin," It was the voice of a woman who had run out of options. A woman who had given up her heart. It was a voice he had a hand in creating. "Remember when we were in training, and you told me we should play chess sometime?" 

A slow nod showed that he did. 

That wicked smile that had haunted him for so long broke across her lips, "Check," 

He understood. 

Everything happened so fast. The world fell in and out of focus as they worked around each other’s advances. He was eighteen then, and much more fit than he once was, but his movements were blunted by heartbreak. 

They shattered each other. 

Victory had been postponed, but it would soon be sweet upon her lips. There was no doubt in her mind about that. He made a mistake, and she fully intended to exploit that. A low growl left his lips as she threw him against the wall, pinning him with one hand. For a moment, his eyes widened and it was like opening a portal to another time. If she only closed her eyes, she could pretend they were trainees again. They were only practicing hand to hand drills. The knife in her hand was wooden. 

They were just children playing an innocent game. 

But she chose to keep her eyes open. 

Just as she was about to commit the act that would liberate and haunt her forever, he leaned into her motion. One of his arms wrapped tightly around her waist and pulled her in closer. For a moment she feared he had gotten the best of her. 

His head bowed down to rest on her shoulder. They were both warriors weary with the burden of each other. That weariness drove them to maddening lengths. The light sensation of his breath against her neck made her stiffen. Could it be— 

His lips traced a pattern across the length of her shoulder and fluttered to an end at the hollow of her neck. Warmth blossomed across her skin, flaring where his affection ghosted over her neck like rosettes. It was everything she had always craved and everything she had feared. The warrior in her roared to continue. With minimal effort she could finish what she started. She had him right where she wanted, even as he pressed nonreturnable love to the most vulnerable pieces of her. 

Without warning, he whispered almost lovingly into the kiss.

"Check mate," 

Disconnected, he watched the blood spill from the tender skin to which he had just devoted his love. The shock that claimed her body allowed him time to swiftly cut at the back of her neck as well, ripping apart that which at one time he loved so dearly. The strategy had been risky and if it failed he could have lost his life. The shock registered quickly in her eyes as she stumbled. The stolen knife clattered to the floor. She hadn’t accounted for the knife hidden in jacket; for the changes that had hardened him in all the right places. The circle had indeed been ended.

Since the strategy had proved so successful, he merely lost his heart instead.


End file.
